GOP stalwart switches sides

Democrats welcome Froehlich's move

State Rep. Paul Froehlich says he has seen the future, and to his mind, it isn't Republican.

Froehlich, a lifelong member of the GOP, announced his switch to the Democratic Party on Tuesday, a move that followed months of speculation he might follow the demographics of his district and lean left.

"You go to a typical Republican organization meeting anywhere, it's primarily older folks. There's an awful lot of gray hair at those meetings," Froehlich said at Schaumburg Township Town Hall.

The Republican Party's "future prospects are not that good," said Froehlich, who also gave up his job as Republican committeeman for Schaumburg Township.

While some Republicans said they will continue to embrace the former teacher and anti-drunken-driving activist, others said his abandonment of his party post could provide an opportunity to reinvigorate Schaumburg Republican efforts.

Froehlich's district includes most of his hometown of Schaumburg, most of Roselle and parts of Elk Grove Village, Rolling Meadows, Hanover Park and Bloomingdale. Froehlich taught high school and was a wrestling coach for 13 years, most recently at Conant High School in Hoffman Estates. His wife, Marilyn, was elected to the Schaumburg Township Library Board this spring.

Froehlich became Schaumburg committeeman in 1998, beating longtime Schaumburg GOP head Don Totten, a powerhouse in Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign. Froehlich appointed himself to fill a vacant seat in the 56th Legislative District in 2003 and won election to the post in 2004.

He said he has witnessed a slip in Republican fortunes in his area. In 2002, Schaumburg Township went for Republican Jim Ryan over Rod Blagojevich for governor, 54.5 percent to 42.8 percent. But in 2006, Republican Judy Baar Topinka got only 42 percent of the township vote. Other recent races have seen similar trends against Republican candidates.

Some local Republicans said they hope Froehlich's switch results in the return of longtime GOP stalwarts alienated by his leadership.

"It's a great positive," said Joe Folisi, leader of Forum for Independents and Republicans of Schaumburg Township, which was at loggerheads with Froehlich's official Schaumburg GOP organization. "He did a lot to harm the party over the last few years."

Other Republicans said they will continue to cooperate with Froehlich, who worked for the Illinois Secretary of State's office under former Gov. George Ryan but didn't receive Ryan's endorsement in his race against Totten.

"He's done an outstanding job for our community, and the fact that he's going to be running as a Democrat is not going to affect my support for him," said Hoffman Estates Mayor Bill McLeod, a Republican.

Froehlich said issues such as immigration and failure in "pursuing justice and protecting minority rights" helped push him into the Democratic fold. Froehlich voted with Democrats on some environmental and immigrant-related issues and is generally conservative on social issues such as abortion.

"Republicans who liked my voting record last week will not find that suddenly, I've embraced a whole bunch of different issues that they don't like," he said. .

Republican House Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego) said Froehlich's switch isn't a betrayal of bedrock GOP principles, but he plans to run a candidate against the legislator next year.

"He has always regarded, I think, political opportunity over political ideology and political principle," Cross said. "It's frankly not a shock to a lot of us."

Democrats in Froehlich's area were salivating at the prospect of Froehlich bringing some members of his Republican organization with him.